Mayor pushes back after Country Thunder cancels festival 2 days before it was scheduled to begin

Organizers are blaming construction, noise bylaws for cancelling the July festival, but the City of Calgary says noise requirements have no impact on the show.

Officials with Country Thunder Alberta announced the cancellation of the 2026 music festival on Wednesday, which was set to be held this weekend.

In a news release, officials cited “city-created safety and operational barriers,” as the reason behind the decision.

Those claims were hotly denied by Calgary Mayor Jeromy Farkas in a fiery Wednesday afternoon press scrum in which he systematically rejected the festival’s claims.

“After exhaustive efforts to find a workable path forward, the organization has determined that conditions created by the City of Calgary, including active construction surrounding the festival site and new restrictive sound limitations, make it impossible to stage the event for 2026,” they said.

The event was scheduled to start Friday and run through Sunday at The Confluence Historic Site and Parkland.

The festival has traditionally taken place in the middle of August since it was launched in 2017, but the 2026 festival was rescheduled to the last weekend of June, just ahead of Stampede.

‘City-driven conditions’

“We do not take this decision lightly,” said festival executive director Kim Blevins. “Our fans travel from across the country to be part of this experience and we owe them an event they can enjoy fully.

“The city-driven conditions in Calgary this year make that impossible. Proceeding would have meant compromising on not only safety but also the fan experience and that is not something we are willing to do.”

“We want our fans to feel the music, lose themselves in it and leave having had the experience they paid for. The new sound limitations placed on this event would not have allowed us to deliver that experience.”

Festival organizers say they have been negotiating with the city over a number of “escalating infrastructure and regulatory challenges tied to the new arena development,” that were unable to be resolved.

Among those, the festival cited the following:

• Traffic reduction of Ninth Avenue and additional construction in the area, interfering with the safe and essential access routes for production, emergency services, and attendee movement;
• Loss of key site infrastructure required for functional festival operations;
• A last minute installation of a water line bypass pipe through areas designated for festival use, rendering critical sections of the site unusable;
• A reduced decibel noise permit that prevents the event from operating at standard production levels.

Controversy erupted over the weekend concerning the reduced decibel noise restrictions, and how they impact weeknights of the Cowboys Music Festival, which takes place on the west end of downtown about a mile from the Stampede grounds.

However, those decibel level restrictions apply to weeknight events after midnight. Country Thunder’s headliner acts go on at 9 p.m. and the festival takes place on the weekend.

Wednesday afternoon, Country Thunder digital manager Megan Benoit said the late cancellation was due to a desire to try to see if they could pull it off.

“That’s the reason this (cancellation) is coming so late is because we were so hopeful,” Benoit said, “and at this point, we’re not expecting anything in the next 48 hours.”

Benoit said the decibel restrictions were a factor.

“It was 10 decibels lower than what we were given last year,” she said. “75, yes -- and the standard for a live event is typically 110 so we were pretty low.”

‘Incredibly disingenous’: Farkas

Calgary mayor Jeromy Farkas pushed back against Country Thunder’s claims in a Wednesday afternoon press scrum.

Farkas said noise restrictions that apply to the Cowboys Music Festival don’t even apply to Country Thunder and have never been an issue, quoting Benoit who on Monday appeared to agree when she spoke to City News.

“Curfew for our festival has always been 11 pm,” Benoit said,

“Country Thunder was not part of the noise bylaw discussions about the Stampede off-site festivals,” Farkas said. “Its curfew did not change.

“Both statements cannot be true.”

Farkas also pushed back against the music festivals’ claim that last-minute construction and a water lane bypass had changed the feasibility of the event.

“The water bypass work did not appear overnight,” he said. “Nothing started this week.

“Country Thunder says the city created unsafe conditions for emergency access – production – and attendee movement," he said, continuing.

“That is a serious claim – and it is false. It requires facts.

“The city works with emergency services transportation teams, site operators and event organizers on access and safety planning. Country Thunder’s statement identifies no safety plan rejected by the city, no required access route denied by the city, and no specific safety requirement left unresolved.

“To be crystal clear, no specific safety requirement by Country Thunder was left unresolved by the City of Calgary.

“Instead, Country Thunder has issued broad allegations after cancelling an event without notifying the City of Calgary or the Confluence in advance.

“They are trying to bandwagon and dogpile onto the misinformation and B.S. that existed on the Cowboys tent conversation, and it didn’t even apply to them,” he said.

A spokesperson for The Confluence Historic Site and Parkland said they had no comment on the cancellation.

Farkas also said he felt for fans, local employees and performers who had the opportunity to showcase themselves at the festival.

“I’m disappointed that thousands of ticket holders received an explanation that does not match the public record or the facts,” he said.

“And I’m disappointed for the fans, workers, vendors, performers and Calgarians who looked forward to this event.”

City learns of cancellation ‘through the media’

The city said they didn’t have any advance notice from festival organizers and learned about it when it was announced in the media Wednesday at lunch hour.

“This was the first indication we received that the event might not proceed,” the City said. “As recently as this morning, City staff from Festivals and Events, the Calgary Fire Department, Infrastructure Services and the contractor, met with Country Thunder representatives.

“At that meeting, Country Thunder representatives confirmed they were satisfied with the mitigation plans in place for this weekend’s event.”

The city said there had been “ongoing contact” with festival organizers since January “where all parties were informed of the project background, scope, schedule and traffic control plans.

“Through subsequent regular dialogue with event organizers, the city incorporated several changes to the construction work zone, work sequencing and site accesses to accommodate the organizer’s needs.”

The city addressed concerns about decibel levels, saying they increased the allowable dBA level from 65 to 70, while bass levels were reduced from 85dbc which they understood was not a “reported concern” with Country Thunder “due to the genre of music played at this event.”

“A meeting to answer any questions regarding these changes was offered to Country Thunder organizers this morning,” they added, “to which they (festival organizers) did not reply.”

As far as construction goes, the city said it’s intent “has always been to minimize disruptions during the event and reduce potential impacts on attendees and organizers.”

They added that they remain open to continued dialogue with organizers about the 2026 show and “future opportunities.”

‘Gutted’: Jaiden Riley and the Crybabies

Jaiden Riley who was scheduled to perform with her band The Crybabies, said it was a tough bit of news to receive so close to showtime.

“I’m trying not to cry because I don’t want to ruin my makeup,” she said. “We were going to put on a really good show -- I know I’m devastated and everyone from the band is gutted.

“I’m trying to be optimistic about it but it’s hard,” she added. “All the work that we’ve put in. All the time – it was going to be the biggest stage of our career so far -- so yeah, it’s a pretty tough pill to swallow."

Riley and the Crybabies have a busy summer of concerts booked, including performing on Canada Day in Cochrane, the Bow Valley Bootstomp and multiple shows in Calgary during all 10 days of the upcoming Calgary Stampede.

“This city is my hometown and it’s been kind to me and my music and my band and this sucks,” Riley said.

All ticket holders will receive a full refund, the festival said. Those who purchased tickets online directly through Front Gate Tickets will receive an automatic refund.

For more information, go here. Fans with additional questions can contact festival officials at [e-mail].

With files from CTV News’ Tyson Fedor